Pictured: Twelve jaw-dropping projects that will revolutionise Saudi Arabia, from an upside-down skyscraper with a secret entrance to the world’s largest floating structure and a $500bn ‘vertical Manhattan’

Tabuk Province, Saudi Arabia. A barren corner of the country, with little that’s apparent to recommend it as a destination but endless sunlight and abundant salt water.

Nevertheless, Mohammed bin Salman, crown prince and de facto leader of the region, saw this rocky landscape and envisaged something epic: a series of futuristic developments, space-age cities, and luxury resorts. A desert ‘utopia’ named Neom that encompasses an area of around 10,200 square miles and includes 12 named projects, from industrial port city Oxagon, the world’s largest floating structure, to Sindalah, a sea-horse-shaped resort island for the super-wealthy.

Then there’s The Line, a gleaming, mirrored city envisaged as a hermetically sealed wall cutting through the desert. The Neom project cannot be accused of a lack of ambition. 

It is reported to be the crown prince’s attempt to diversify the Saudi economy, bolster tourism, reduce reliance on fossil fuels, and establish the region as a technology and innovation hub on the world stage.

Reports of the cost of the project vary, starting at $500billion (£396billion) to estimates it will cost in excess of $1trillion (£792billion), if the 12 projects reach completion.

The Line is Neom’s flagship development. Announced in 2021, its sheer ambition sparked headlines – and controversy. The ‘vertical Manhattan’ is intended to be 170 kilometres long (105 miles), comprised of two 500-metre-tall (1,640ft) parallel towers that house nine million residents.

Each of the dual towers will feature mirrored facades, and include residential and business properties. Walkways will connect the structures, while a high-speed train will run beneath.

There will be no roads or cars. Daily essentials are planned to be within a five-minute walk for residents. Volocopters, delivery drones and robot servants will be on hand to serve. Designers say it will run entirely on renewable energy.

When completed, it will be the largest megastructure in the world.

Some of the proposed details are eye-catching, involving technology that has not yet been developed in some cases. 

Rain-starved desert will be addressed with cloud-seeding machines to promote precipitation. There are plans for on-site healthcare scientists who modify residents’ genes to make them stronger, an artificial moon lighting the sky, and plans for The Line to have the highest rate of Michelin-starred restaurants per inhabitant.

Meanwhile, the design for Aquellum sounds vaguely akin to the lair of a Bond villain: per Neom’s website, it will be an ‘ultra-luxury upside-down skyscraper’ completely encased in a mountain, undetectable to anyone outside. Its inhabitants will access their home from a secret entrance via the Aqaba coast, on the Red Sea.

According to Neom, once inside Aquellum, ‘a dynamic boulevard winds through the courtyard, connecting diverse social spaces, world-class hospitality, immersive arts, events, shopping and dining. A signature space, dubbed ‘The Generator’, houses unique research labs for disruptors, innovators, and creative thinkers, offering a platform where the future is reimagined.

The Neom site adds: ‘An omnidirectional internal transit system facilitates easy access to upper floors, transporting residents and visitors to their homes and hotels, ascending to rooftop gardens with breathtaking coastal views.’

Sindalah is an 840,000-square-metre man-made island in the shape of a seahorse, being developed into a resort aimed to serve the yachting community (and ultra-wealthy). When completed it shall boast an 86-berth marina and yacht club. It is predicted to be the first completed project, in 2025. 

The second project anticipated to reach completion is Trojena, set to be operational in 2026. It’s being built atop Tabuk, the region’s tallest mountain range.

This tourism destination will include the first major outdoor skiing destination in the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations and will host the 2029 Asian Winter Games.

According to Neom, it will ‘showcase the next generation of luxury living, with a limited and exclusive offering of apartments, chalets, mansions and ultra-luxury mansions that boast unparalleled privacy, inspirational architecture and a seamless journey with nature’.

The remaining projects are Leyja, a nature reserve; Utamo, an arts and entertainment centre; Norlana, a coastal residential area; Xaynor, a beach club; Zardun, an eco-tourism resort; Epicon, a luxury tourist resort; and Siranna, a hexagonal luxury resort.

There is concern that Neom won’t be the sustainable mecca it is being sold as.

In a study of potential biological conservation issues for 2024, Science Direct raised concerns mirrored megastructure The Line is ‘likely to pose a substantial risk to migratory species, particularly passerine birds’. Reflective surfaces are identified as one of the biggest causes of bird deaths each year.

The report says: ‘The magnitude of The Line may pose a novel threat to the eastern populations of the estimated 2.1billion migratory birds of more than 100 species that migrate from Europe to Africa in autumn each year, for which this area forms a bottleneck.’

Environmental campaigners are sceptical, as well, declaring claims for The Line’s planned sustainability as ‘greenwashing’. Saudi Arabia is the second largest oil producer in the world.

Amnesty International has also voiced alarm at the project, particularly regarding the forced displacement of members of the region’s Howeitat tribe to accommodate the development. Some 20,000 Saudis have been moved so far.

In 2023, the non-government organisation ALQST, which works to protect Saudis against human rights violations, reported that three members of the Howeitat tribe had been sentenced to death for criticising the displacements.